Mark Webber won the British Grand Prix after team mate Sebastian Vettel went off on the first lap.

Lewis Hamilton capitalised on Vettel’s problems to take second place and hold on to the lead of the championship.

And Nico Rosberg held off Jenson Button to claim the final podium place for Mercedes.

Vettel’s race was ruined within a few metres of the race starting. Webber dived past his team mate and Hamilton followed him through to take second.

The McLaren driver made contact with Vettel’s car, which seemed to cause a right-rear puncture on the RB6 – though it could have been a consequence of Vettel’s trip across the run-off on the outside of Copse.

Vettel limped into the pits at the end of lap one, not long after Felipe Massa who’d suffered a puncture of his own having made contact with his team mate.

Webber and Hamilton ended lap one first and second and would ultimately finish in those positions, Hamilton admitting afterwards he didn’t have the pace to challenge the Red Bull.

Robert Kubica took up third with Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso in his wheel tracks. Alonso was the first of the three to pit, Rosberg delaying his stop and able to jump ahead of Kubica by doing so.

Alonso was climbing all over the back of the Renault driver and drew alongside on the outside as the pair headed to Club. He squeezed past Kubica but cut across the corner by doing so.

Renault appealed and Alonso had just been told to hand the position back when Kubica slowed and pulled into the pits to retire. Shortly afterwards the stewards announced Alonso would have to serve a drive-through penalty.

It got worse for Alonso moments later when Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber began shedding bodywork on the track. With shards of carbon fibre littering the straight the safety car was summoned. This was a disaster for Ferrari, as Alonso now had to take his penalty after the field had bunched up.

After the safety car Rosberg held third ahead of Jenson Button. The McLaren driver gained six places at the start and then made his pit stop very late. That promoted him to sixth, after which he gained places thanks to Alonso’s penalty and a late pit stop for Nico H?â??lkenberg.

The safety car gave Vettel the possibility of points and he picked off several cars in the final laps. The likes of Vitaly Petrov, H?â??lkenberg and Michael Schumacher succumbed with little difficulty, but it took until the penultimate lap for Vettel to find a way past Sutil.

After several attempts to pass on the way out of the new Abbey and Farm corners – one of which resulted in Vettel running through the dirt – Vettel finally muscled his way past into the slow Loop corner. That left him seventh, with no time left to catch Rubens Barrichello or Kamui Kobayashi.

Schumacher and H?â??lkenberg rounded out the top ten, the latter stopping on his return to the pits. Vitantonio Liuzzi was 11th – he was passed by Alonso but the pair made contact, giving the Ferrari driver a puncture which compounded his misery. A late change for fresh tyres at least allowed him to claim fastest lap.

After the events of yesterday, when Christian Horner had order that the only remaining example of a new front wing to be taken off Webber’s car and put on Vettel’s, Webber had a clear message for the team after taking the chequered flag.

I felt guilty as I too yelled uncontrollably in excitement as Mark took the lead and Vettel slid off the race track as I nearly woke my entire family. I also felt guilty to be cheering at Sebastian’s misfortune particularly, and contrary to your laughter when Mark’s radio was played at the end, my heart started pounding at one thousand beats per minute. I hope the Christian Horner – Mark Webber relationship does not sour further after that remark. How pleasant it was to hear my national anthem once more however.

I feel totally good for Webber. He deserved that win. The drivers of the day were Jenson and Tonio imo. Kobayashi gave Sauber another chance to smile, brilliant drive.
Lewis is winning the championship, my bet.

Webber, wow! That was an awesome performance today. Vettel, another attempted little shove into the wall at the start on Webber backfired horribly, but his recovery was great, especially the pass on Sutil. At least he’s learning something by being forced to climb up the field! Alonso – nightmare. Why on earth didn’t he return the position? Again the karma gods where around at Silverstone today! Button cooly slips into 4th – I’d watch this one if I were Webber and Ham. Fantastically enjoyable race.

I don’t think we’ve heard the end of the Red Bull Civil War. Apparently Vettel has been quoted about “seeing peoples’ true faces” or some such. I’m expecting a meltdown before the final away leg of the season, and I’m willing to bet that if this litte re-enactment of Chernobyl costs Red Bull a championship, either Vettel or Webber will be seeking alternate employment for 2011.

Hard to know for sure what he means, but if it’s an attack on Webber’s character, it would be pretty unwarranted and another sign that Vettel needs to mature. I still like Vettel, but my opinion of him has gone down this season, unlike my opinion of Webber.

Yeh I was impressed by his comeback, but lets not forget that the redbulls were at some point 1 sec faster than the Mclarens who are the 2nd fastest team. Most drivers would of pulled off the same feat. I was sooooo happy when Webber went P1 into the 1st corner though

I would even go further than this. Vettel only woke up when the safety car came out. If the Red bull is so good he should have gone for the lower teams and see what happened. While I think everyone is agreed that Vettel is a supremely quick driver, I still have my doubts about his skill at overtaking.

As a Brit and a Hamilton fan, I would’ve liked him to win, but Webber was in another league today and he showed amazing character to win with such style after what seemed to me to be Red Bull’s favouritism towards Vettel. Harsh penalty for Alonso. I wonder how many death threats Mansell will now receive with postmarks marked “Espana”. Ferrari definitely have cause to complain, but they spend so much time complaining, I imagine their protests will fall on deaf ears.

Was laughing out loud when Vettel lost it in the first lap. Fantastic race. Awesome drive by Webber, and Hamilton. Unbelievable that Button keeps picking on others miseries. He has been so far away from the pace of Ham, but just a 12 points away from the championship lead.

Well put. Button probably knows by now that he won’t be able to beat Lewis with all things equal, so he is biding his time and staying close. Maybe he hopes for 1 or 2 wet races where he can gamble? We’ll see but Button deserves props for staying close to Lew.

Button always got some lucky charm inside his underwear given by his dad who’s always wearing pink shirts during button’s race as a sign of good luck, that’s why he always gets some luck from the drivers in front of him messing around and dropping down suddenly then button goes up the pile. But you know…he also has to have skills coz luck isn’t enough for those great drivers in front that he’s challenging. He needs to buy some skills from the nearest supermarket! :-)

Immature? I reckon you might be one of a distinct minority with that take on the Webber/Vettel relationship. Vettel has been the one throwing his toys out of the pram, not the other way around.

Heikki had it right when he said that he too would be upset if his team treated him like RBR treated Webbo yesterday. Different if the team is up front and says “the other guy is number 1, you’re number 2 – you understand?” at the beginning of the team/driver relationship, and the media and everyone is aware of this – like in the Schuey Ferrari days. But to say “We do not favour one driver” then decide to rip the one remaining front wing off the guy who has not had it fall off (and how do we know it was not driver induced? Vettel likes to smash the kerbs pretty hard) just prior to quali and then claim no favouritism?

Good luck explaining that one. RBR and Vettel are looking more and more like kids in a mens game, carrying on in a very immature way. Webbo just wants to be told straight what is going on. This will get ugly… …so despite being an Aussie and a Webbo fan, I reckon it’ll now be a McLaren constructors win and LH for the title. RBR are about to self destruct…

yes SH is one of the 25% that thinks horner made the right decission on the winggate. The other 75%, think other wise.
How many people say watch f1 on tv all over the world? 200 million? So then red bull, must be very scared of the bad publicity they got. 150 million people are not buying a can this week end. At least i ain’t.

@SH – Your argument is that Redbull has the fastest car by some margin. Therefore they dont need Vettel either. Lets not forget Webber was there for years developing that car. Vettel was gifted the seat, he is the one who has to prove his worth and in my mind he just hasnt. Needing silver spoons to get the job done in the fastest car. I cant see any other driver on the grid doing a worse job in the RBR car so what makes Vettle so special? But I can see the majority of the drivers reacting a lot worse than what Webber has after being clearly unfavoured.

Webber leaving won’t stop Seb running his team mate off the road every time he’s out of position… the little German has a lot to learn. So does Red bull, they clearly favour aggression over experience and technical ability, and this is their downfall. Why else would they have the (far) superior package and be down where they are?

I totally agree with Webber in this situation. The level of favoritism that has been show towards Vettel is reaching Schumacher-Barrichello levels. First with the way “swervegate” (love that phrase, can’t remember who to thank for it) was handled despite the fact that Vettel was clearly in the wrong and clearly acted in a childish manner with his hand gestures towards the crowd when he got out of the car and now with the revised front wing issue. Webber is doing just the right thing in this situation, keeping cool and winning.

The only person Vettel should be mad at is himself. Frankly a driver that is as highly rated as he is combines with the fastest car on the grid and unofficial number one status should be miles ahead in tyhe championship. But he’s only fourth, a full race win off the lead.

You have made this comment on a number of posts now. Have you stopped to think that Red Bull are now a winning team due in part to Webber’s input? There are many old Jaguar folk at RB and plenty of them will tell you how much of an impact he had then, and is still doing so now.

Perhaps Red Bull need to be more grateful to the man who helped them get their wins.

However giving the only new part to the guy with the best chance of winning the race / the championship is only natural. The only other solution is to not use a good new part, which is daft.

I think Webber is getting Alonso-syndrome and thinking the world (or at least his team) are out to get him.

It might just be the push he needs to fight harder.

And that might just be good man management from Horner.

Webber reminds me of the James Hunt style of driving faster by getting more angry. I remember a classic story that the McLaren mechanics used to pretend to fiddle with the settings when he was struggling for pace. He would get angry that they were doing things without him wanting them and often go out and find a couple of seconds extra in the same car.

I want Webber to stay in Red Bull & the type of guy he is he will let his driving do the talking for him, & I solely believe he will win the championship if not this year then in 2011. Even if he leave then where will he go other then Renault?

@Skanda… Button behaves like true champion, keeps his nose clean, and scores big points. 14th to 4th was fabulous with his inferior car. This is racing, not demolition derby…. Ham’s just not as consistent yet, and doesn’t manage his car like Button, Give him time… he’s still a bit of a loose cannon, but he has 15 years in him yet. Patience… a concept lost on Alonso!

Maybe that tortoise (Button) business that you advocate will work in other sports but we want to see the fastest guys go all out. BTW have you seen the last 5 races this year? There hasnt been a more consistent driver than Lew. While his chief rivals quiver, Lewis has been a rock in recent races. He hasnt won as many races as Mark this year but he is leading because of consistency.

I have said it before on this forum and will say it again. Button will never win the WDC while in the same team as Lewis. I will provide a hearfelt apology if I am proven wrong.

oh, don’t get me wrong, I like Hamilton, and the points speak for themselves. But all out results in crashes, not wins. The angry, aggressive, accident prone ‘spinning tops’ like Seb & (Gawf) Alonso simply make a rod for their own backs… Hamilton has had his share of stupid moves and dropping it for no reason, and appears to have learned a lesson from his team mate, which is good to see.

and even though I’m sitting here in my ‘Button’ T-shirt, I agree with your last statement, as much as it pains me… but you can’t, with any sincerity, call world champ and the 2nd place driver a tortoise!

I hear ya but Lewis seems to have matured so much this year. You have the luxury of calling Lewis’ moves stupid and Button a “true champ” because Lewis has been unique. Button & Alonso all had their share of stupid moves during the early part of their careers but those went without much notice as they drove for poor teams. Lewis on the other hand was thrust into a situation with high expectations with every move visible and obvious.

Looking back at his 3.5 years in the sports I think he did rather well. Beating his teammate, a 2 time WDC in his first year and then winning in his second year. What more could you have asked of a rookie? This year with a “so so” car he leading and if Mclaren ever catches RB it is his championship to lose.

I agree that Button is a very very good driver and I really like him, however I do not think he will ever go down as one of the greats like Hamilton has the potential to do. I think Hamilton will always have the beating of him over a season but I think he needs to accept that he got a quite lucky last season (not taking anything away from his performance or that of brawn) and that it will be unlikely that he will be WDC again. This is not something to be ashamed about though and I am hugely happy that he is at Maclaren because as team mates I think that Hamilton and Button are the best pairing in F1 and they could both help Maclaren to many Constructors championships and Hamilton will find it far easier to win a WDC with Button by his side than probably any other driver on the grid. I also think Hamilton has learned a lot from Button this season and I hope they go on together for years to come. That said if Button won the championship this year I would still be very happy.

“Donâ€™t you think, that he should have overtaken Rosberg to get onto last podium spot?”

Don’t you think he would have if he could in his home GP, he explained after the race that the lighter the car got the harder it was to handle and also was told to save fuel by Mcclaren. I personally believe that LH is a better racer than JB and has matured since JB came to the team, making him a complete driver.

I said before the start of the race that I hope Mark would drive like a madman for the first few corners and make the youth blink. That was the only way to send a message to the “brains” at RB that they dont take a part off of a man’s car and then claim they are equal. Turns out that Mark was thinking the exact same thing. He made the youth blink and sent a clear message that he is not to be messed with.

On another front, things keep getting better for Lewis in every race. Because there isn’t a rock solid driver in any other team, he is being gifted the opportunity to stay with reach of the WDC while Mclaren tries to catch RB.

I felt bad for Fernando because the SC came out at exactly the wrong time. He has reasons to curse his luck but some of it was self-inflicted. He really should’nt have waited to be told to give the position back.

I gave the race an 8 because there wasn’t much of a fight at the front after the first 2 laps.